Abstract: An apparatus for supplying aseptic fluids to a field of operation, as in surgery, especially bone surgery, includes a holder for the aseptic fluid which has elastically deformable walls, an outlet pipe which can be connected to the operating field, and a container surrounding the deformable holder to which a controlled supply of pressure fluid can be furnished to regulate the supply of fluid to the point of operation.

Abstract: A self-piercing ear wire formed as a substantially circular loop having a sharp tapered point at each end thereof with one of the ends receiving a pressure pad in sliding engagement therewith. The ear wire is preferably made from a non-corrosive material such as gold and is spring tempered so that it will normally have the two points thereof passing by each other when the ear wire is placed on the ear lobe with the two pointed ends extending in from opposite sides thereof. The pressure pad can be slid along the ear wire to locate the same properly on the ear lobe with each point of the ear wire engaging the skin at each side of the ear lobe.

Abstract: An endotracheal or tracheostomy tube having a non-sticking inside surface for allowing for the free movement of a suction catheter through the tube. The non-sticking surface is in the form of a series of grooves separated by ridges having thin edges extending through the length of the tube for engaging the surface of the catheter.

Abstract: A drain for the eardrum is formed of a high polymer with the properties of absorbency and swelling. An apparatus for inserting the drain for the eardrum includes a needle with a sharp tip, a tube sheathing the needle and a trigger to project the sharp end of the needle from the end of the tube. When the trigger is drawn, the sharp tip of the needle is extended from the end of the tube and is then inserted into the drain, and used to bore a hole through the eardrum and to insert the drain into the hole.

Abstract: A tracheal tube having straight inner and outer end portions integrally connected by a curved central portion contains a cannula that can be removed from one end. The cannula is a normally straight one-piece flexible tube of plastic circumferentially corrugated from approximately its inner end outwardly to a point at least as far as the outer end of the curved central portion of the tracheal tube. The corrugated wall of the cannula stiffens the part of the cannula that extends through the curved central portion of the tracheal tube to prevent it from collapsing when the cannula is inserted in the tracheal tube.

Abstract: A cryomedical device, comprises a probe which is adapted to be positioned to rapidly cool a body portion of a patient, and which is connected to a coolant supply which supplies coolant thereto at a predetermined rate. Means are provided for sensing the temperature in the vicinity of the probe, for example, a thermocouple element in the probe itself or a needle which may be injected into the body, and one, or both of these are connected to a control for regulating the supply of coolant. In addition, a heater may be provided in the probe and the control may be connected to regulate the heater. In the preferred arrangement, the control includes a device for setting the temperature value of operation which is connected to a comparator to provide a control between the set value and the actual value of the temperature of the body in the vicinity of the probe.

Abstract: A self-contained vacuum aspirator system is disclosed which comprises a container having a vacuum applied therein; a valve assembly secured to said container for selectively allowing the passage of fluid into said container; a curette in communication with an aperture in said valve assembly; and an air permeable collection means supported within said container by the aforementioned valve assembly in communication with an opening in said valve assembly for accumulating matter collected by said curette when the valve assembly is operating to establish communication between the aforementioned aperture and opening.

Abstract: Therapeutic device for locally topical treatment of the body comprising a skin-applicable open-mouthed combustion chamber, a grating support for herbs or other combustible material and means such as a pressurized air supply and/or a restricted combustion gas outlet to pressurize gases held at the skin by the combustion chamber mouth.

Abstract: A respirator assist device intended to be connected to a hand operated vacuum pump such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,722 and includes a tubular tongue depressor and sealing means encircling the lips of the user; then, upon manually closing the nose of the user, and operating the pump, a vacuum is created in the throat above an object lodged therein, causing the object to be forced back into the mouth for removal.

Abstract: An endotracheal tube holder includes a support arm mounting a tube retainer, an elongated chin mount that is held by a neck strap against the chin and in turn positions the support arm with the tube holder located between the wearer's teeth. A releasable strap detachably holds the tube in the retainer. A friction pivot connects the base of the arm to the chin mount so as to permit adjustive shifting of the tube retainer transversely across the mouth.

Abstract: An instrument for removing tissue including a rotatable fluted cutter member housed in a probe adapted to be inserted into a portion of a body from which tissue is to be removed. The instrument can supply irrigation fluid through the probe to the area being operated upon and evacuate the material through the probe after being engaged by the cutter.

Abstract: A quick release device for a powered surgical instrument, for example, a Mueller osteotomy saw, includes a coupling having a spindle which forms a mounting surface, the spindle being driven with the coupling by the power source. Located on the spindle is a locking pin assembly movable between a locking and an unlocking position, the spindle cooperating with a plurality of concentrically disposed latching pins which latch the medical instrument to the spindle in driving relationship therewith. The medical instrument, for example, a saw blade, includes a predetermined number of apertures corresponding to the number of latching pins on the spindle, each of the apertures including a pin receiving end and a latching end. Eccentrically positioned with respect to the apertures is a locking pin receiving aperture through which the locking pin on the spindle is received.

Abstract: A plurality of relatively adjustable acupuncture needles including a holder in which any selected needle may be removably mounted for operative use.

Abstract: Apparatus for piercing the earlobe to produce an opening for the wearing of earrings. A relatively movable anvil and carriage are provided. The carriage mounts a precompressed spring, bearing against a piercing dart. A spring housing and barrel on the carriage are also relatively movable. The earlobe is placed between the anvil and carriage and the carriage moved into engagement with the earlobe. Further pressure on the carriage produces relative movement between the spring housing and barrel and this relative movement causes dual triggers to be cammed out of engagement with the piercing dart. The movement of the triggers releases the dart which pierces the earlobe and is guided into a catch button on the anvil. A catch spring engages the shaft of the piercing dart and holds the parts in association so that the body portion of the apparatus may be removed.

Abstract: Removably located within an elongated epithelium-lined tract, or tunnel, surgically formed in the subcutaneous layer of the wearer's scalp is the elongated subdermal portion of a scalp anchor. The anchor includes an external portion attachable to a hairpiece. A plurality of such anchors securely yet removably retains the hairpiece in the desired position on the scalp.A web at the junction of the subdermal and external portions enhances the wearer's comfort by reducing the unit pressure on the adjacent end of the tract in the event that force is exerted against the anchor by the hairpiece; and for hygienic reasons the web is constructed so as to provide channels for the circulation of air in the subdermal tract.

Abstract: Ultrasonic and cryogenic instrumentation for the removal of unwanted tissue material from an animal, such as a human, and more particularly, adapted for the removal of cataracts, in surgical operations. The ultrasonic and cryogenic instrumentation include hand-held instruments with the cryogenic instrumentation adapted to first freeze the cataract lens and after the cataract lens has unfrozen the ultrasonic instrumentation is adapted by a vibrating tool to reduce the volume of the cataract and thereafter, through the simultaneous introduction of a fluid and creating a flow, the cataract mass exits through the incision around the vibrating tool until all of the unwanted tissue forming the cataract lens is removed.

Abstract: This invention relates to an apparatus for breaking-up, without contact, concrements present in the body of a living being, which comprises waveguide means filled with a liquid medium and adapted to be placed against said body, and means for generating shock waves within said waveguide means.

Abstract: The present disclosure deals with ultrasonically selectively dissolving solid and semi-solid unwanted materials, such as vitreous gels, membranes, cataracts and similar materials in ophthalmic operation applications, for example, by radiating from a physically small source, high-frequency, preferably pulsed, acoustic waves, while positioning the material to be selectively locally dissolved by such waves at a selected region sometimes in contact with or near-contact or within a short distance from the source of the order of a millimeter or so, at which the propagated acoustic wave energy can effect such phenomena as, for example, localized cytolysis of the material at the selected region thereof substantially normal to the wavefront of the radiated acoustic wave region, and without substantial damage to the portions of the material external to said selected region, and with adjustment to obviate any substantial temperature rise at the material.

Abstract: An earlobe piercer which has a pair of jaws that are movable towards and away from each other and a pressure plate mounted to one of the jaws which engages and holds the earlobe to be pierced. A slot in the pressure plate has a bottom end that supports one end of a piercing stud. The other end of the stud is disposed in an actuating mechanism which can be released to drive the stud linearly forward and through the earlobe while the stud is guided by the slot bottom. An enlarged cutout in the pressure plate provides visual access to the earlobe to be pierced to facilitate the alignment of any given point on the lobe with the stud. The piercer further provides means for positioning a stud-engaging clip which has an aperture that intercepts the travel path of the stud so that the stud engages the clip at the end of the piercing operation to thereby secure it to the earlobe.

Abstract: An instrument for laparoscopic tubal cauterization includes: a grip member, a probe element attached to the grip member and a pair of electrodes carried by the probe element in such spaced relationship to one another as to avoid electrical short therebetween, the electrodes defining at one extremity a pair of tube-grasping portions. Means are provided on the grip member for electrically connecting the electrodes to an external power source and for allowing a current discharge between the tube-grasping portions of the electrodes whereby the tube grasped is cauterized.